Bettman In Tempe Thursday To Support Coyotes’ Arena Project – Sportico.com

National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman was in Tempe, Ariz., on Thursday for the Arizona Coyotes’ final day of the regular season to support an upcoming local vote to build a $2.1 billion arena and entertainment complex.

All mail-in ballots on the three initiatives before Tempe registered voters will be completed by May 16, and ballots will be mailed next week.

“This is the right time and the right project, and it’s being led by the right person,” Bettman said at a media conference, referring to Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo. – Despite all the rhetoric, once this arena is built, this team will never go anywhere. It will be here forever.”

Bettman headed to Mullett Arena later in the day for a game against the Vancouver Canucks. It was Arizona’s 41st home opener of the season and the final home game on Arizona State’s campus. If the project passes the voters, the 5,000-seat building should play two more seasons.

It was his first game in the facility that opened this season for NHL and ASU hockey. The Coyotes moved out of their former facility in Glendale at the end of last season due to a lease dispute.

Bettman was last in Arizona in November, when the Tempe City Council unanimously approved the project 7-0 and sent it forward as a moderately controversial public initiative.

“I encourage everyone to vote,” Bettman said. “Vote once, but not often. It’s a process. It was so gratifying to be here when the last council vote was delivered. This development strengthens community. It creates jobs. It creates a greater identity than Tempe already has. It’s something the Coyotes need.

“Honestly, I’m struggling to see what the downside is.”

The 46-acre Tempe Entertainment District (TED) site is located just about a mile west of Arizona State’s campus. The site is a dump that must be abated at the Coyotes’ expense before the first phase of TED, which includes an arena, practice facility and amphitheater, could cost about $1 billion to complete.

The second phase of the project, budgeted at $1.1 billion, will include residential, office, hotel and restaurant space after the arena phase.

Tempe has about 90,000 registered voters, whose decision could decide the NHL’s future in Maricopa County, which has a population of 4.5 million.

The Coyotes have their own internal tracking polls and are confident that the initiatives will pass.

Bettman was reluctant to address the issue when asked what would happen to the Coyotes if the vote fails.

“It’s something I don’t want to think about right now,” Bettman said. “Our view is that we are hopeful and optimistic that it will pass. And if not, I’ll be shocked and surprised and we’ll have to deal with it. But if you’re looking for me to express an alternative or a threat, I’m not going to do that.”